On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to demand that Attorney General Jeff Sessions stop special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Trump repeated his dismissal of the probe as a "witch hunt" and again accused Mueller of being biased toward Democrats. ..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018 According to the New York Times, the president's lawyers claimed this was not a command to the Justice Department's highest-ranking official "but merely an opinion." Trump's relationship with Sessions has reportedly grown increasingly tense in recent months, with the president even saying he regretted having named the former Alabama senator as attorney general. Trump said this after Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. SLIDESHOW: DONALD TRUMP’S 30 CRAZIEST TWEETS Rudy Giuliani, another of Trump's lawyers, also told the Times that the president's request was not an order. “It’s not a call to action,” the former New York City mayor told the newspaper. “He’s expressing his opinion, but he’s not talking of his special powers he has [as president]." Trump's tweet comes one day after the trial for his former campaign manager Paul Manafort started in Virginia. Manafort is being charged with bank and tax fraud related to his work for pro-Russia political entities in Ukraine. In a separate tweet, Trump slammed the FBI and took particular aim at Peter Strzok, who testified before lawmakers last month because of text messages he exchanged with a colleague about potentially stopping Trump from being elected in 2016. The president quoted noted attorney Alan Dershowitz for some of his statements. “FBI Agent Peter Strzok (on the Mueller team) should have recused himself on day one. He was out to STOP THE ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP. He needed an insurance policy. Those are illegal, improper goals, trying to influence the Election. He should never, ever been allowed to........ — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018 .....remain in the FBI while he himself was being investigated. This is a real issue. It won’t go into a Mueller Report because Mueller is going to protect these guys. Mueller has an interest in creating the illusion of objectivity around his investigation.” ALAN DERSHOWITZ.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018 Mueller is now investigating Trump's tweets for potential obstruction of justice. Last month, 12 Russian intelligence agents were indicted for interfering in the election and hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails. These indictments came just three days before a summit between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Trump was severely criticized by many lawmakers, including Republicans, and top U.S. intelligence officials for believing Putin over American institutions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. One Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, noted on Twitter how plainly obvious it has become that Trump has tried to obstruct justice: When I was a prosecutor, obstruction of justice was often hard to prove, requiring difficult-to-obtain evidence that the individual’s actions were truly intended to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation. Oh how times have changed. https://t.co/CjSFJmng7Z — Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) August 1, 2018